UConn Is Among Those Barred From Postseason Basketball

In March, one year after Kemba Walker led the Connecticut men’s basketball team to its third national championship, the Huskies were ousted in their first game of the N.C.A.A. tournament, an early end to a disappointing season. But Connecticut will be unable to redeem itself next season because the N.C.A.A. on Wednesday imposed a one-year postseason ban as a result of the program’s low Academic Progress Rate scores.

Connecticut is the first team from a Bowl Championship Series conference to receive this punishment. Ten Division I basketball teams and five teams from other sports were penalized for the coming academic year.

“I believe very strongly that this is a game-changer,” said Walter Harrison, the president of the University of Hartford and the chairman of the N.C.A.A.’s Committee on Academic Performance. “It sends a message to our teams and to our critics that we mean business.”

He added, “Those teams not eligible for the postseason need to think hard about who they recruit and how they support their student-athletes.”

The offending programs all had four-year A.P.R. scores below the minimum of 900 from the 2007-8 academic year to 2010-11. The teams also face additional sanctions, including the loss of practice time.

In basketball, Jacksonville State, Towson, Mississippi Valley State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Toledo, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California-Riverside and California State-Bakersfield received one-year postseason bans. (Cal State-Bakersfield’s case remains under review because it entered Division I as a full member in 2010-11.)

But Connecticut was the most prominent team to be disciplined.

“It is kind of surprising we’ve come this far with the A.P.R. and we still have a big-time school that’s fallen below that number,” said Jason Lanter, an assistant professor of psychology at Kutztown University and the president of the Drake Group, an N.C.A.A. watchdog. “What I’d be interested to see is what’s going to happen in the academic support unit at UConn. Who’s going to be held accountable for the UConn men’s basketball team?”

Photo

Jim Calhoun, the men’s basketball coach at Connecticut.Credit
John Dunn for The New York Times

There is a chance the N.C.A.A.’s Committee on Academic Performance could review Connecticut’s case and include its 2011-12 A.P.R. scores in its portfolio, thus making the Huskies eligible for the postseason. But Harrison said he did not expect any retroactive changes.

In March, the Big East’s university presidents voted that any team ineligible for N.C.A.A. postseason play would also be barred from the Big East championships. That would cast an even longer shadow on what is widely considered the nation’s premier conference tournament. West Virginia is leaving for the Big 12 this year, and Syracuse and Pittsburgh are scheduled to leave for the Atlantic Coast Conference after this season.

“Any team that’s ineligible would be a huge loss to the tournament, particularly a program like Connecticut,” said Dan Gavitt, a Big East associate commissioner.

Tim Welsh, an analyst for SNY, said he did not expect Connecticut’s ban to affect recruiting. But he questioned the notion of punishing current players who were not responsible for the team’s academic troubles.

“These kids work hard and won’t have that opportunity that every other team has had in the past, and none of it is their fault,” he said.

Connecticut’s situation could serve as a cautionary tale for other programs, especially because the N.C.A.A. is raising the minimum A.P.R. to 930, from 900, over the next three years. This change essentially corresponds to a 50 percent graduation rate.

“I think the bigger story is that many basketball programs could be in jeopardy in the future,” Gavitt said. “I think the change is going to have a dramatic impact.”

Lanter applauded the N.C.A.A. for addressing the issue and continuing to raise postseason eligibility requirements, but he said there remained room for improvement.

“I really don’t view the A.P.R. as a good standard,” Lanter said. “A 50 percent graduation rate, I don’t consider that successful. We need to raise the standard to some level, but we also need to truly understand the education they’re receiving.”

A version of this article appears in print on June 21, 2012, on page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Postseason Isn’t Option For UConn For a Year. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe